


Keep Me in the Back of Your Mind

by mini_puffs



Series: Trying to Connect the Dots [2]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, Spider-man!Skeppy, Theme park date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:37:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27498817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mini_puffs/pseuds/mini_puffs
Summary: He doesn't really know what's so responsible about a Saturday scamming carnival games while other heroes get to curb stomp villains to the ground, but it's not like Skeppy has much free time to do anything else.
Relationships: Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Series: Trying to Connect the Dots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009554
Comments: 26
Kudos: 301





	Keep Me in the Back of Your Mind

**Author's Note:**

> read the first part [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26167543) as this is a semi-part two? cause i just wanted to write a thingy lmao

“That’s cheating.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Geppy, that’s literally cheating.”

“No, no, it’s not cheating!” Glancing to his left, Skeppy waits till the attendee turns to explain something to a newcomer before aiming his wrist up at the tower of blocks. Three painted clown faces jeer at him, one happy, sad, and downright annoyed. “Look,” he says, waving Bad over. “Watch this.”

He points to the last one and hits it with a gob of webs, the tiny tower toppling off the platform. The web fluid dissolves as if it were never there. Skeppy whoops, almost jumping ten feet in the air if it weren’t for Bad pulling him back down. It’s freezing underneath the tarp with rows of different carnival games and he huddles his hoodie closer to his chest. People around them don’t care, much less the employee, some poor kid no older than fourteen looking like they’re about to drown the lady in front of them into the rubber duck-infested carnival waters.

The same look is on the person next to him’s face. “Skeppy,” Bad says. He helps him roll his sleeves up to hide the gear but sighs. “You can’t do that.”

“He never said we had to use the balls to knock them off,” Skeppy reasons, grinning from ear to ear. The kid hasn’t noticed them yet, seconds away from entering a screaming match with the customer. He’ll intervene in a second. “That was pretty two thousand IQ though, huh?” He nudges Bad. 

“That’s—“ He mulls it over, brow furrowing and turning away. “I’m done,” Bad says, face red. He waves his hand to get the employee’s attention. “We won!”

Skeppy stifles a laugh and fails miserably. The web-slinger almost activates once more as he clutches his sides laughing. It’s the weekend and for once in his full year of super-heroing, it’s not taken up by old crime bosses or robberies down the street. His face is free of bruises and his arms and legs work perfectly fine, not counting the minor clicks when he moves his joints. _Comes with the powers_ , Bad and almost every hero had told him when he complained. His healing could only go so far. _Comes with the responsibility._

He doesn’t really know what’s so responsible about spending a Saturday scamming carnival games while other heroes get to curb stomp villains to the ground. Granted, it was Bad’s idea to come here and although he may or may not have tricked him into going in the first place (they both have very different ideas of what a perfect troll is), Skeppy’s not going to argue with that. 

Normally, he hates being lied to. People do it all the time, stealing and fighting just to get away. But when it’s like this--laughter and smiles and a bubbly feeling in his chest that isn’t from injuries--maybe not telling the truth is alright.

Turned out alright when he last did, anyway.

“Which prize do you want?” The kid asks, snapping him out of his thoughts. They seem much more relaxed with the troubling customer gone and Skeppy’s heart swells with pride. Might not have been a crime he stopped, but the kid would have committed one. “You can choose any from the third row.”

“Uh.” Bad squints and pushes up his glasses. His other hand is firmly clasped around Skeppy’s which raises another giddy feeling as if he’s swinging through the buildings. “I don’t know—Skeppy, which one do you want?”

Skeppy shrugs. His hands are warm and he swings them back and forth without looking up. “I’m fine with any,” he says.

“Okay. That one then,” Bad decides, pointing at one on his right.

“That one?” The employee repeats in disbelief.

“That one.”

 _That one_ turns out to be a small blue box plushie and Bad immediately hits him in the face with after walking away from the booth. It interrupts him mid-arm swing, causing him to lose his balance as Bad laughs, mixing in with the chatter of the park. As he helps him back up, Skeppy meets a blue smiley face peering at him, tongue sticking right out. 

“Sorry, Skeppy,” Bad says in what is probably supposed to be a high-pitched imitation of the plushie’s voice. It sounds like a villain’s, maybe one he might’ve stopped in the past week or two. Skeppy pokes it in the eyes as Bad quickly takes it back. “Hey! You’re being a muffinhead.”

“I am not.” Nothing in his body flares up in pain and Skeppy dusts off the back of his hoodie. “I’m the one that won that for you, you know.”

“Mhm.” Back to his normal voice. Bad points two accusing fingers at him that makes him stop in his tracks. “Weren’t your superpowers supposed to save you from falling?”

Nobody’s listening, but Skeppy checks anyway. “They’re not ‘superpowers’,” he corrects, making air quotations. The web-slinger was gear, and the fight instincts have always been there. “They’re more like--” 

“Spider senses?”

“Bad!” Bad’s laughing, holding the stuffed toy up as some sort of buffer as Skeppy whirls around to face him. “It’s more like--”

His phone rings. Skeppy holds off on the thought and takes it out. He doesn’t have to read the name to know who it is, clicking on the video attached. Rain’s beginning to pour down as Bad leads them both back underneath the carnival tarp and steers themselves clear out of the passersby's way. A kid trips in front of them, muddy and on the verge of tears, and Bad excuses himself to be by their side in an instant trying to reassure them with the stuffed prize. 

Skeppy doesn’t try to stop the smile on his face. Two months ago, this same situation would happen and they’d both be there, the only difference being the suit clinging to his skin like another layer of webs. Two months ago, Bad would call him by his hero name with a fond smile that was normally reserved for the guy behind it, the friend who’d show up to math fifteen minutes late with scratches and bruises he swore were from clumsiness. Two months ago, they’d be on a rooftop somewhere and the truth would spill out like the city lights below them did.

Another ring from his phone. Skeppy presses play. The video’s fourteen minutes long but he fast forwards through the seconds anyway. It’s security footage of the bank across the street from his school, one that’s big and fancy and screams “capitalism” in five different pillars of marble. A figure darts in and out of the camera, black hoodie standing out against the bright white floors. Skeppy frowns and taps his finger against the back of his phone. The person hops over a desk, sliding out of frame as a cat photo pops up.

Of fucking course.

 **_You:_ ** _why the cat photos_

 **_Mute minor:_ ** _I was bored and in pain_

 **_Mute minor:_ ** _didn’t think you’d actually watch it lol_

 **_You:_ ** _stfu_

 **_You:_ ** _why_

 **_You:_ ** _why_

 **_You:_ ** _why_

 **_You:_ ** _wdym_

 **_Mute minor:_ ** _you gave me 17 hours of footage to review_

 **_Mute minor:_ ** _that’s suffering_

 **_You:_ ** _u like doing it tho_

 **_Mute minor:_ ** _you like making me suffer_

 **_Mute minor:_ ** _how’s ur date btw_

 **_You:_ ** _WAHT_

 **_Mute minor:_ ** _i want a raise_

Before he can scream at him, a small _click_ goes off and Skeppy immediately snaps his head up. Bad’s standing in front of him, a sheepish smile on his face as he lowers his phone. Caught red-handed. “Sorry,” he says, holding the stuffed animal closer to his chest. Skeppy’s heart rate still races, but for different reasons. “Who’re you texting?”

“Mega.” He moves to the side for Bad to join him. “Why’d you take a picture?”

Bad shrugs. “Just looked nice.”

“You like me that much?” Skeppy can feel himself smiling before the question’s done.

“Yeah.”

“Aw, thank you--”

“Why were you texting Mega?” Bad asks out of the blue. Not exactly accusing, but the way he tilts his head and stares at him makes him feel like it anyway. Or maybe that’s the jealousy talking. Skeppy suppresses a laugh and shifts into interrogation mode.

“Mega? He’s just sending me footage.” Another stare. “Remember the break in thingy—“

“You--you’re not going on a patrol tonight, are you?” He interrupts.

If Bad was tense before, he definitely is now. He’s gripping the plush to the point where his knuckles are white and his smile, now a thin etched line, stares at him with scrutiny. Like one of the wind-up whack-a-moles from the game they played moments ago, watching, waiting for him to strike down before his time is up. 

“No. No, I’m not.” Skeppy blinks. “Why?”

As quickly as it had arrived, the whack-a-mole pops back into its burrow and Bad plasters on a grin, tossing him the plush which he (thankfully) catches. “Nothing! I just had a bad feeling. Today’s supposed to be your day off!”

The side of it’s dry, somehow. Skeppy snickers. “Heh, a _bad_ feeling.”

“Oh—you know what I mean!” Bad elbows him. “You and your Spider-man senses or whatever.”

“I am literally begging you to stop calling it that.”

“What do you want me to call it then?”

“Nothing,” he says as a blob of rain falls into his eye. Taking off his glasses, Skeppy wipes the lens off with his shirt and places them back on, his vision much clearer. The one day he forgets his contact lenses and it’s raining--Mother Nature really said no. “Don’t call it anything.”

“Skeppy senses.”

Dang it. “Y-yeah, that works.”

Bad spins on his heel, trying to get his umbrella to open. Drops of rain splash onto him as Bad looks up and gestures for him to stand by his side—

“RUN!”

Screams erupt all at once around them and Skeppy yanks Bad out of the way of the stampeding crowd. A huge gust of wind slams into them, the umbrella flying forgotten into the air as Skeppy quickly webs their feet down to avoid suffering the same fate. His phone is ringing--probably Mega screaming at him that he has to handle this—and he grips Bad’s sleeve, whose face is a mixture of pure confusion and shock. He smiles weakly, and Skeppy can’t tell if the drop in his stomach is from that or his senses kicking up.

So much for his day off.

“Skeppy--” He’s saying something. Skeppy blinks, wiping the rain off his face and the smell of mud sticking to his nose and shoes. He’s supposed to get Bad and everyone out of here. The exit’s like a ten minute walk from where they are, and with the chaos maybe more. According to his calculations--who is he kidding, he has no fucking idea where this is going. God, he’s terrible.

“I have to—“ To what? Leave? Save the city? Try not to die? “You should--” Run? Stay safe? Also try not to die? “Just--”

“Go,” Bad finishes for him. It occurs to him that their faces are inches apart and before he can even think about it Bad’s leaning in and pulling away, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and pulling his hoodie down as Skeppy gapes at him. Wow. “Skeppy! You’re supposed to go now!”

He yelps. “Yes! Yes!” Bad’s practically shoving him forward and he almost slips face-first into the mud. “Oh my god--I’m going! I’m going!”

“Watch out! Do you have everything--”

It’ll be a pain to fight in the rain, but he’s had worse. “Yes, yes I do! I’ll be fine--”

“You said that last time and broke your arm!”

“Okay, they were a little stronger than I expected--”

“If you drown or something this time--”

“How am I supposed to drown?!” 

“I don’t _know!_ Just--” Bad sighs. They’re both drenched and drops of rain race down his face, eyes shining with an emotion Skeppy can’t place. “Come back safe, okay?”

_Come back safe._

Skeppy grins. “I will.”


End file.
